The Bursley Trail
Join John and I as we take a walk around the Bursley Trail.
Heritage Open Days are held every September and are England's largest festival of history and culture. The events for 2025 were held between 12 to 21 September.
John and I decided to take part in one of these events, which was taking place in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. Many people may know Burslem as the birthplace of Lemmy. There is a statue dedicated to him there and also a Lemmy Plaza sign on Wedgwood Street.
However, Burslem is also the birthplace of late 19th century /early 20th century author Arnold Bennett, who is mainly remembered for his novels and short stories that were set in the six towns of The Potteries, as he knew the towns.
Bennett, however, referred to the six towns as The Five Towns, with descriptions that are quite close to the actual places and the names of the towns altered from the originals. The town of Burslem, where he was born, is known as Bursley in his books.
The Bursley Trail is a walk around some of the fictional locations he used in some of his books and was one of the Heritage Open Days events. John and I went to this event without George, as he was in college, and also because I think George would probably have been bored, and acted accordingly.
The Arnold Bennett Society have put blue plaques on various buildings around Burslem that are mentioned in the Bennett books. These plaques tell you what the building was known as in the particular book(s) it was mentioned in and what the building is in "real life" Burslem.
Some of the blue plaques on display. From the top left - Snaggs Theatre (The Blood Tub); The Big House; Duck Bank Chapel; The Dragon Hotel; Steam Printing Works; Buggs Gutter; Burslem Endowed School; The Baines Shop and Bursley Town Hall
John and I joined a group of people on a walk around the Bursley Trail, with some members of The Arnold Bennett Society as our guides. As we reached each building, individual guides told us about the role that particular building had in a particular book. They also read an extract from one of Bennett's books where that building was described. I felt that really helped bring the tour to life, as standing in front of the building, while hearing Bennett's words from one of his novels, helped me to see the building through his eyes. It helped John too, as he was able to imagine what the different buildings looked like through the descriptions.
We saw many beautiful buildings, many of which have not changed since featured in Bennett's novels, and could feel them brought to life with the extracts that were read from the books.
From the top left - is the former Queens Theatre building (Snaggs Theatre); The Big House, which was also a former home of Josiah Wedgwood; The Wedgwood Institute (Burslem Endowed School); The Victorian Water Fountain and Burslem Town Hall (Bursley Town Hall)
The walk itself is short and very accessible. The Arnold Bennett Society has produced a leaflet where you can do a self-guided tour, following the blue plaques, so you too can look at some of the places mentioned in Arnold Bennett's books. If you're interested in history and enjoy Bennett's books, I would definitely recommend this walk to you.
